


What if I told you time was slipping away (where would you go if you had only one direction to take)

by MYuzuki



Series: No matter what’s in front of me (I’ll keep fighting til I’ve won) [28]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Ardyn Izunia, but here we are, canon divergence because of time travel, which is not something I thought I would ever be writing, will wonders never cease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26538124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: Ardyn prides himself in always being twelve steps ahead of everyone else he comes across; it's how he'd advanced his plans so efficiently after finally deciding to give up on trying to be a hero and instead resigning himself to being the villain the gods have proclaimed him to be.But the Glaive standing across from him knows too much and sees too keenly, and for the first time in a very long time Ardyn has to acknowledge that he's not holding all the cards.
Relationships: Ardyn Izunia & Nyx Ulric
Series: No matter what’s in front of me (I’ll keep fighting til I’ve won) [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897525
Comments: 17
Kudos: 126





	What if I told you time was slipping away (where would you go if you had only one direction to take)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so! I know I said I wouldn't post again until tomorrow, but, uh...work was stressful and posting these makes me happy. ;D

**What if I told you time was slipping away (where would you go if you had only one direction to take)**

* * *

Ardyn prides himself in always being twelve steps ahead of everyone else he comes across; it's how he'd advanced his plans so efficiently after finally deciding to give up on trying to be a hero and instead resign himself to being the villain the gods have proclaimed him to be.

But the Glaive standing across from him knows too much and sees too keenly, and for the first time in a very long time Ardyn has to acknowledge that he's not holding all the cards.

 _Who are you_ , Ardyn had demanded of him, but he'd gotten no straight answer either time, and perhaps it's ironic to be so frustrated by verbal evasions when he prides himself on his own, but the truth is what it is.

Whoever this man is, he's no mere attack dog of the current Lucian king; there's an edge to him that's something else, something _more_.

Ardyn isn't half of who he used to be, once upon a time millennia ago, but even with his soul in shreds and his mind warped he can recognize the aura of Lucian magic, feel the sizzling hum of it in the air.

Can feel it emanating from the soldier in front of him, and isn't that _interesting_.

It's also thoroughly _impossible_ , because the last time Ardyn checked the only living members of the Lucia Caelum line besides himself (not that he considers himself 'alive' so much as 'incapable of dying because the gods are bastards') are Regis and his son Noctis.

Noctis who is destined to pit himself against Ardyn in a predetermined battle to decide the fate of the world.

Except apparently, according to the utterly absurd letter that had been delivered to his private office in Gralea almost three weeks previously, destiny has been subverted, its course changed to a new uncharted road that no one had anticipated.

(The part of Ardyn that is petty and spiteful wants to search out Bahamut and see what the Astral thinks of his carefully scripted destiny being changed according to the stubborn whims of mortals, perhaps laugh in the Draconian's face about it a little.

Of course, since the sane part of him recognizes that as a Very Bad Idea, he's not actually going to do that.

…It is terribly tempting to think about, though.)

"What would you do," Ardyn asks now, watching the strange soldier carefully, "if I said that I wasn't going to come along willingly?"

A flurry of emotions flicker across the Glaive's face, almost too quick to decipher; alarm and wariness are the most pronounced but they pass by quickly enough, replaced by an expression that's determination mixed with resignation and tinged with a rueful edge that Ardyn doesn't understand. "Well," the soldier replies, his tone almost a drawl for how faux-casual it is, "I'd be pretty put out. And once I got over the crushing disappointment, I'd probably stab you in the face."

"You would _try_ ," Ardyn corrects, somewhere between amused and pitying.

"Oh, no," the Glaive corrects, his smile turning sharp, an edge of threat creeping into his expression as magical energy sparks along his fingertips, "I absolutely _would_ stab you in the face. And yes," he adds, "I know it wouldn't kill you but it would be damn satisfying."

Ardyn can feel his own smile falter, and lapse into something approaching a frown as he regards the soldier intently, his instincts pinging to life as the feeling of magic coming off the other man intensifies again. It's like fire and lightning sparking to life in the air around him, around _them_ , and Ardyn knows what that _means_ but it doesn't make any _sense_.

"Who are you?" he asks yet again, because they say that the third time is the charm, yes?

( _How do you know so much?_ he doesn't ask, but he knows it's there in his tone.)

The soldier just snorts, still tense as if bracing himself for a fight, gaze sharp and wary as he watches Ardyn's every move with the same intensity of a coeurl watching a rival predator. "Come back to Insomnia without me stabbing you in the face," he replies, so thoroughly unintimidated that Ardyn almost finds it insulting, "and maybe I'll tell you."

Ardyn arches a brow, but the Glaive doesn't elaborate, seemingly content to wait for Ardyn's response despite the tension radiating off of him in waves. "It seems rude for you to demand my company without offering so much as your name in return," he says at last, curiosity and a vicious sort of hope warring with the bitter fury that he's been carrying around in his heart ever since first waking up in Angelgard.

That same fury has been dogging his steps on and off ever since he'd gotten a letter from the King of Lucis, but he can't deny the nagging feeling of _what if_ that's hovering at the edges of his mind as he speaks with this strange Lucian soldier.

(He'd nearly burned that thrice-damned letter when he'd first received it, but he'd been unable to bring himself to destroy it despite the rage that had consumed him at the very sight of the Lucian seal on the paper.

Even now, he finds the offer it had contained positively ludicrous; the proposal hadn't even specified _how_ the Lucian king planned to remove the Starscourge from his body, only that he was certain it could be done if only he would come to Insomnia and stand before the Crystal with the rest of the royal family.

Truly, only a fool would even consider believing such a thing, and in the middle of a heated war no less.

…He's rather disgruntled from the realization that there's still a smidgen of foolishness within his own heart somewhere, buried beneath thousands of years of anger and betrayal.)

The Glaive , meanwhile, gives a sharp bark of laughter at Ardyn's words, the sound coming out startled. "Ulric," he replies, shaking his head with a vaguely bemused look that Ardyn privately labels as a why-the-hell-not expression. "Nyx Ulric, Commander of the Kingsglaive."

"Ah," is all Ardyn can say at first, because he _knows_ that name; it had crossed his desk more than once after Glauca's demise, had enraged the Emperor because the man bearing that name had killed one of his most valuable generals. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Commander," he adds belatedly, more out of habit than anything because so much of being High Chancellor has been ( _had_ been) displaying impeccable manners while manipulating everyone around him like chess pieces in a never-ending game.

Ulric rolls his eyes, looking thoroughly unimpressed with Ardyn's everything (Ardyn can't decide if he's annoyed by it or if he admires the audacity of it). "Now that the awkward introductions are over," he says, tone dust-dry with the slightest edge of lingering hostility, "can we get the fuck out of here so that the temptation to stab you in the face doesn't just overwhelm me and fuck over my grand plans for circumventing destiny?"

There's _so much_ to pick apart in that statement but Ardyn knows better than anyone how to bide his time and wait for the opportune moment, so he carefully files away his questions for later. So instead he sweeps a dramatic bow and gestures towards the exit. "After you," he says cordially, "Commander Ulric."

**Author's Note:**

> Would Ardyn actually give up his revenge simply because a member of the Kingsglaive knows more than he should and calls the Lucii jackasses? Probably not, but it's happening anyway! (I mean, it's gonna be more complicated than that, but still. :P)
> 
> Besides, this way I can focus on making Aldercapt and Verstael the main villains of the alternate timeline, which will be vastly easier than dealing with the more convoluted bits of the XV plot. ;P
> 
> …Also because this way I don't need to kill off Regis, Noct, or Nyx for Plot Reasons (am I still salty about Noct dying at the end of game? Why yes, yes I am), which is all I really want lol.


End file.
